Annapolis in the USA is currently the county seat of Anne Arundel County and also the capital of the U.S. state of Maryland. According to census in July 2006 it had a population of 36,408 and is settled on the Chesapeake Bay at the source of the River Severn, about 29 miles or 47 km east of Washington DC and 26 miles or 42 km south of Baltimore. Annapolis forms a portion of the Baltimore Washington Metropolitan Area.



The city was for some time the capital of the United States from 1783 to 1784 and the place where in November 2007, the Annapolis Peace Conference was held at the United States Naval Academy. St. John's College also exists in Annapolis.

A colonization called Providence was found on the north coast of the River Severn in 1649 by Puritan refugees from Virginia headed by William Stone. Later these settlers shifted to a better defended port on the south coast. The colony on the south bank was at first called Town at Proctor's, later Town at the Severn, and much later Anne Arundel's Towne, as a tribute to the wife of Lord Baltimore who expired soon afterwards. During the slave trade the city became very rich.

Soon after the dethroning of the Catholic government that belonged to lord proprietor in 1694, Sir Francis Nicholson shifted the capital of the royal colony there and changed the name of the town as Annapolis in honor of Princess Anne, the next Queen of Great Britain; it was recognized as a city in 1708.

From the middle of the 18th century to the American Revolutionary War, Annapolis was famous due to its cultivated and wealthy community. The Maryland Gazette that became a significant weekly journal was published there by Jonas Green in 1745. In 1769 a theatre was inaugurated. In this era the commerce was sufficient, but collapsed rapidly later because Baltimore, with its abyssal port was made an entry point in 1780. Water related trades like boat making, sail making and oyster packing became the city's main industries. Annapolis these days is homing numerous of recreational boats that have mostly shifted the seafood industry of the city.

In 1783, Annapolis became the capital of the US for a short time after signing the Treaty of Paris. From 26, November 1783, to 3, June 1784, Congress was in session in the state house and it was in Annapolis on 23, December 1783, when General Washington resigned from the post of commander in chief of the Continental Army.